Mother Jones reporter David Corn hung up on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt after the two clashed over Corn’s Bill O’Reilly/Falklands War story.
Hewitt said that he was the one who did a tough interview of O’Reilly, discovering the name of the O’Reilly camera man who was allegedly injured, not Corn.
“Who got that name, David? I got that name from O’Reilly, you didn’t,” Hewitt told Corn. “I did the reporting, and you didn’t do the reporting…so back off and just answer the questions because I’m not defensive. I’ve got no dog in this fight.”
“I’ve never been in a combat zone. I asked O’Reilly the hard questions. He answered them, and he didn’t get all scuffed up and he didn’t get all huffy,” Hewitt said. “This comes down to protest vs. riot vs. combat.”
Hewitt then said Corn’s story was “a big joke” in the context of everything going on in the Middle East.
“This is all a big joke. The world’s gone to hell in a hand basket,” he continued. “ISIS is marauding. And we’re trying to figure out if someone misreported or exaggerated a riot 30 years ago? Honest to God. Do you people not realize the world has gone to hell and you’re covering this nonsense?”
“Hugh, your false outrage here is belied by the fact that you just spent 30 minutes on this when you could have spent 30 minutes on ISIS,” Corn shot back. Hewitt then asked if the Mother Jones scribe was “insecure in his reporting.”
Corn, who has steadfastly defended his story, threatened on multiple occasions to hang up on the host when Hewitt disputed the piece’s significance. Hewitt said that Corn was “injuring the standard” to which war reporters are held.
“Now here’s the stolen valor problem…when people try to borrow the dangerous experiences of others, they diminish the honor of those who’ve actually done them,” Hewitt said, rattling off the names of multiple war correspondents. “They themselves are very hesitant to describe their experience as being dangerous because they know they’re not even remotely close to the danger that real soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines put them in. They’re being protected.”
“So if you diminish, what Brian Williams did or not do, and I didn’t comment on it because I’ve never been in combat zone. I’m so reluctant to go there,” Hewitt added. “I just think if you go after O’Reilly for a different agenda and conflate what he did with Williams, you are injuring the standard by which war reporters ought to be judged by saying ‘all exaggerations alike.’ That’s my point.”
“You think he’s really as bad as Brian Williams?” Hewitt asked Corn. Corn’s original story was headlined “Bill O’Reilly Has His Own Brian Williams Problem.”
“I respect your perspective, and I think it’s a legitimate perspective… But I don’t think you can disagree with facts,” Corn said sticking to his guns. “Anyone can look at the article I wrote… there’s nothing in there that’s an opinion. I don’t put an opinion in there about whether this is the worst thing that ever happened or the best thing that ever happened.”
Corn added that he isn’t out there to make a determination as to what the future should hold for the longtime host of “The O’Reilly Factor,” which is the number one show in primetime for 14 years running.
Corn hung up on Hewitt after the conservative radio host repeatedly asked about background information from the Falklands War.
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